Label: reincarnation

Recycle yourself?

Recycle yourself?

Reincarnation... Twenty, twenty-five percent of people in our more or less secularized, de-Christianized West, are not averse to the fact that we might come back. Says the researchers. So not just become energy, Nirvana, or live on in some kind of diffuse heaven, but actually continue in a new body much like the one you have now.

How is it that? Perhaps a growing individualism has influenced in that direction, made the idea feel reasonable and appealing? That is to be able to continue with one's projects, interests, realizations, possibly after a little "holiday".

Know that CS Lewis, the author and theologian, said that such notions come as if automatically when people have no shepherd, i.e. the church, or a wise, well-educated priest, who keeps order.

Or, it is that reincarnation is simply a fact. The tilted theology of the Church has loosened its grip and what is fundamentally true is allowed to rise out of consciousness as a hunch, a certainty.

But I'm sitting in the subway and wondering if the whole recycling philosophy hasn't done its job? In the past, people threw their rubbish where they stood and walked, in the ditch, out the window, or just in the lake. Miraculously gone. That's not the case in our part of the world anymore. The circular mindset is always present. Everything comes back. We are constantly fed it. Maybe done something with our self-image, our expectations, that too?

New Age in a nutshell

New Age in a nutshell

Concentrate of a dozen interviews I did in 2009-2010 for a thesis in psychology. You can find longer summaries of the interviews here.

The interviewees' path to embracing the view of life they have today looks different. There are those who are raised in Christian, moderate Christian homes as well as in homes where questions of spirituality have never been touched, as well as in homes with an acceptance of alternative views.

Separations from previous partners have in some cases become the starting point for a more intense interest in things like spirituality and personal development. Some can still trace their interest back to childhood and a philosophical teacher or inspiring relative. For some, this interest was awakened during an acute life crisis. A séance and the information that emerged there became for one person the turning point that caused her to abandon a previously skeptical attitude to spirituality.

The spiritual interest is practiced mostly on one's own, with sporadic meetings with like-minded people. A couple of the respondents state belonging to a certain organization. It is possible to cultivate an interest in several different teachings in parallel. In many cases, the interviewee's interest has today been preceded by studies of other teachings. The spiritual view of life is not something that is imposed on others. Being a vegetarian is seen as self-evident, mainly from an animal rights perspective.

Close relationships in this life are often relationships continued from a previous existence. Role reversals are common, such as for example a parent in this life may have been the interviewee's child in a previous incarnation. The interviewee's own children may have been the interviewee's parents or siblings. Becoming a parent is not necessary, although having children and being a parent is described in a positive way. Being free and independent is an ideal. There may be a person with whom the individual is especially connected over many lifetimes, possibly forever, a so-called "twin soul".

Reincarnation and karma are the "key" that can explain the individual's destiny and a prerequisite for development towards perfection. People can be "young" or "old" in a double sense, partly in terms of their chronological age in this life, partly in relation to how far they have advanced in their spiritual development. Life is a school. We ourselves are fully responsible for our destiny. Suffering is inevitable. We ourselves have planned or in any case approved how the current life has turned out. We did this on the threshold of this incarnation and then with an "adult" perspective. Outside of this physical world, everyone is the same age.

God is exalted above all duality. God is neither male nor female, neither evil nor good. This god can be described as both personal and impersonal. The whole world is the body of this deity. God works through the laws of nature. Every human being with his soul forms a part of this deity. God cannot directly influence the fate of the individual, but is more of a kind of administrator of the individual's own karma, both the pleasant and the unpleasant. The theodicy problem is thus solved.

The institutions that have power and interpretive preeminence in the world today, such as the natural sciences and the church, have a limited understanding of the areas in which they are considered experts. The media often run the affairs of power. The public is kept in the dark, for example when it comes to visitors from other planets. Conventional care and psychotherapy can be valuable, but this needs to take in the new spiritual perspectives. The understanding of how problems and symptoms often stem from experiences and traumas in previous incarnations is central. A phobia of water can, for example, be due to the person drowning in a previous life. There are great opportunities to sort out your problems on your own.

Outdated paradigms must be replaced or rather supplemented with a new, holistic perspective. This new perspective is at the same time a kind of essential knowledge or primal religion that humanity has previously embraced. Deep down, there is only one truth. The new spirituality is, in more or less complete form, a representative of this truth.

The interest in or belief in the correctness of this new spirituality is not a religious belief, but more akin to knowing. Its claims are possible to test in one's own life and get confirmed. There are many alternative paths to knowledge or certainty of this deeper truth. So-called "enlightened" persons are individuals who have a self-perceived certainty of this deeper truth, independent of studies in this life. Such information gives access to detailed knowledge in many areas of life. These individuals are self-proclaimed teachers.

That people are generally unaware of, uninterested in, or even skeptical of these perspectives is natural given their current spiritual level. Both the individual and the world at large develop forward according to a plan. Constant progression is guaranteed. The time perspective for the individual is different. The next life is not far away. Death is seen in a positive light. Experiences and talents in this life are carried over to the next. On a personal level, the goal is to develop spiritually and eventually achieve sympathetic and cognitive sovereignty. The world will become a paradise in the not too distant future. Then national borders have dissolved and all people share the same outlook on life. Then there are no wars and everyone is vegetarian.

Live life

Live life

"The acceptance or interest in things like reincarnation, premonitions, telepathy, communication with deceased relatives, etc., is great. While several of the beliefs and phenomena addressed in these investigations overlap with what is usually called superstition and should have been able to coexist with the long-dominant religion, reincarnation, for example, is a comparatively exotic notion in a Christian cultural circle. In the surveys mentioned above, the idea that the individual should be reborn in a new physical body is supported by about one in four respondents. Hammer (2004) writes that '[i]n just forty years, reincarnation has gone from being an idea spread among members of some theosophical and occultist circles to becoming one of the most widely held religious beliefs of our time'.”

This is something I've wondered about for quite some time. Within new age/new spirituality, this being reborn into a new body is seen as a matter of course. So, it is not that the notion is so strong in these circles, which I think is remarkable, because there it is needed, so that the system of thought is connected. But with people in general?

Tried to catch it in the intro to my thesis (above). With the quote by Olav Hammer. Now about twenty more years have passed (guessing if you count the hippie culture, the turn of the decade 60s-70s, as a starting point). It's been a while since I looked at surveys, but it's hard to imagine the numbers going backwards... About 25% of people in the West, slightly higher among younger people, usually state that they believe or at least don't want to rule out that you are reborn, in a new body , in the physical ordinary world. Reincarnation, that is. (Here are some statistics that have 10-15 years behind them.)

Or has it become a straw man for me, a windmill, or whatever they say, while the world around has moved on? This means that the numbers have actually gone back. That people in general to a greater degree now in 2022 believe in an extinguishing, finito, death, then? (For the belief in the Kingdom of Heaven, i.e. somewhere where you come and stay forever, I have a hard time believing?)... Or has it become more Buddhist, i.e. Nirvanic, you think? That you just die and "evolve" into something bigger?

Try googling the topic. In the US, there is PEW Research, which does such great attitude surveys, among other things, of what people believe. This is from 2021. Then whether this can be transferred to Sweden is perhaps unclear. Data on more traditional religiosity, belief in Heaven, God, how many identify themselves as religious, etc., it is probably very different between our two countries. But maybe a concept like reincarnation doesn't make that much of a difference between Americans and Swedes anyway?

How is this supposed to be understood? That reincarnation is a fact, and when the usual Christian theology has begun to loosen its grip, the secularization, then this "comes to one" as a hunch that something you feel deep down is/can be true? Or is it an effect of increased individualization, the personal project, that it would be so unthinkable, like a mockery, if everything just ended? Or a mix? Or something else?

(Then there is the possible clinical implication, of course. But that is a completely different track... Within certain alternative psychological theories & therapies, one likes to think that symptoms and problems actually have their basis in trauma from such previous existences, which must be sorted out out.)

Kim Kardashian on reincarnation

Kim Kardashian on reincarnation

"Multiple people that had no idea that was my nanny or anything have come up to my baby to say that he's a family member reincarnated," Kardashian dished. “So my whole family, all the time, thinks it's my dad and is just so emotional and close to him.”

But it's not just comments from strangers that have the Kardashians hooked. The baby apparently shares traits similar to that of her late dad.

"He's left-handed, like my dad," she revealed.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1120194/why-kim-kardashian-knows-son-psalm-west-is-robert-kardashian-sr-reincarnated

Speaking of which, reincarnation today is a concept that is covered very many in the West.

Hammer (2004) writes that "[i]n just forty years, reincarnation has gone from being an idea spread among members of some theosophical and occultist circles to becoming one of the most widely held religious beliefs of our time".

https://www.stefanhellsten.com/intro

Growing belief in reincarnation challenges the church (SvD)

Growing belief in reincarnation challenges the church (SvD)

The belief in reincarnation is new in our country and has emerged on its own. The belief in reincarnation means that the Christian faith is given a new interpretation compared to the traditional sin and forgiveness paradigm. The judgment of the mistakes of the one earthly life is replaced by a belief in the eternal communion of the soul with God. This is written by Bengt Wadensjö, bishop emeritus.

A post that caused quite a stir on Christmas Eve 2015 and the days after. SvD Debatt then publishes an article by bishop emeritus Bengt Wadensjö, which describes how the idea of ​​reincarnation has taken root today not only among the general public, but also among people who otherwise call and think of themselves as Christians. "Growing Belief in Reincarnation Challenges the Church" (SvD, 2015-12-24). Wadensjö refers to biblical quotations which he believes indicate that the biblical Christ already included the idea of ​​reincarnation.
The debate article continues to engage, partly among those who think Wadensjö is wrong and overinterpreting, partly among people with a more newage/new-spiritual view who believe that it is time that Christians also open their eyes to what is actually in the Bible.
Counterstabbing in SvD comes from the priest in the Nordic Catholic Church, Franciskus Urban Sylvan: “A Misleading New Age Campaign” (SvD, 2015-12-26):
from Bishop Martin Modéus "An adapted Christian faith only becomes unclear" (SvD, 2015-12-27).
and from a doctoral student in philosophy of religion at Uppsala University, Johan Eddebo: "Reincarnation is the opposite of Christian belief" (SvD, 2015-12-27).
Wadensjö's debate article has also appeared in various blogs, and has been commented on there, e.g.:

Every third Swede believes in reincarnation (Dagen, 2008)

Every third Swede believes in reincarnation (Dagen, 2008)

Liselotte Frisk, researcher at the University of Dalarna, in collaboration with the Christian newspaper Dagen, conducted a survey a few years ago of the Swedes' attitude towards various alternative beliefs. The project is a few years old and some material has been removed from Dagen's website.

Of the roughly 900 respondents, 32,8 percent answered that they fully or partially agree with the statement "I believe that humans are reborn (reincarnation)". When similar questions have been asked before, around 25 percent have agreed. Among those under the age of 24, the percentage who believe in reincarnation is a whopping 42,2 percent. (Ur Dagen, 2008-07-16)

http://www.dagen.se/var-tredje-svensk-tror-p%C3%A5-%C3%A5terf%C3%B6delse-1.186792
Diagram presenting the results of the survey (Dagen, 2008):